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Good Night?

Act 5, Scene 1

Max and Logan leave.

"Was it as bad as you expected?" Max is smiling.

"Worse! I couldn't have imagined it being that bad if I'd tried. I'm just not that creative." Logan sulks as he gets in the car, clearly unhappy.

"Oh," Max looks clearly disappointed.

"You didn't think it was a disaster?" Logan asks incredulously.

"You know me. I got fed. I didn't get shot at. It's all good." Max smiles. 'I got a kiss,' she adds to herself. "What was so bad?" she asks, although she is afraid of the answer.

"Let's see. First, I find out my cousin-in-law is on a police task force that is hunting me down."

"Now you at least know about it. It wasn't like the task force was started because you went to the dinner."

"Second, you stomped a grandmaster at chess."

"I knew using superpowers against mere mortals was against the rules for a reason. Sorry."

"Third, I had to listen to myself get called a lunatic, a vigilante, a fop."

"And a stud!"

"Fourth, Mark, a medical student, thinks you are hot and is going to be coming after you. What if he notices anything, oh, unusual?"

"You can't think I am going to let him get close enough to notice anything!"

"Fifth, Marianne knows about my Computer Science degree. The only official records left say English. While having a Computer Science degree is, in itself, not condemning, having one that is hidden is. What if they decide to try and figure out who has the knowledge to pull off the hacks? Run a list of degrees, but my name isn't on it? Do you think she would notice that?"

"OK, that's bad."

"Six, John wants to come over to my place and sample my cooking. Think anyone will notice all the sophisticated hardware?"

"You really needed to camouflage that better anyway. Anyone could drop in and see it." Max smiles at him.

"Seven, you have apparently been replaced by a pod person. My cynical Max has been taken over by some sort of optimist."

Max stares at Logan. Logan is waiting for some cheery comeback, until he glances at Max. He notices her shocked, uncertain look and realizes what he's said. They drive in silence for the remaining three minutes to the penthouse. Logan parks the car.

"Eight, I am supposed to write a book."

"I thought you agreed it would be a good way to keep tabs on the task force. Maybe feed them some false information? Why did you agree otherwise?" Max asks quietly.

"Finally, I nearly had a heart attack when Bennett said 'I knew it!' I thought he…"

"I am sorry." Max says, dejectedly. She supposed getting kissed by a genetically enhanced killing machine would scare anyone. "It was all I could think of."

"What?"

"After Bennett said that. You looked so shocked. I knew you were thinking he figured out you were Eyes Only, or at least in with. I wanted to hide your expression. I didn't have time to think of anything else. I know you didn't want …but… I'm sorry." Max gets out of the car and slips away.

Logan sat in the car for some time wondering.

Act 5 Scene 2

The next day, around noon, Logan's apartment.

Max walks into Logan's apartment. Bling and Logan are in the kitchen.

"Hey, Logan! I brought you a present." Max smiles and holds up a fresh chicken. "Guess what I brought you," Max asks with a hopeful grin.

"A chicken?" ventures Bling. There is obviously something here he is not getting.

"Not just any chicken," replies Logan with a smile. "That is a fat fryer. That's just what I needed."

The End

Authors Notes: I know this isn't the shipper ending many of you were expecting from me. I wanted to finish this fiction, and stop writing in present tense. It was a nice experiment, but I am finding it awkward. I have a few ideas for a sequel, but nothing definite yet.